Kassie Thornwood and the Mandrake Leaf
by snitchavis
Summary: Meet Kassie. She's fun, wild, adventurous...and a bit of a rule breaker. It's her first year at Hogwarts, and while she should be focused on controlling her magic, Kassie has other plans in mind...


The platform was crowded. Platform 9 3/4, that is. People and trollies swerved here and there trying to catch the Hogwarts Express, the train that would lead all the young witches and wizards to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The steam locomotive looked magnificent as it rolled up, smoke billowing out of the chimney. The slow chug of the rail wheels coming to a stop could be heard over the buzzing of people.

Amidst the crowd, a bright-eyed first year was pushing and shoving her way through — her tiny, eleven-year-old body no match for the number of people all packed onto the platform. A sleek, blonde ponytail whipped behind her. She looked up with near yellow eyes, murmuring an apology to the gentleman she had run into in her haste to catch up to her family.

"Allons, Kassie. No dawdling!" a woman called to her.

Kassie's mother, Alexandria Thornwood, was a beautiful, pureblood witch. She had the same nearly-white blonde hair that was always braided behind her and carried herself with the poise of a swan. After all, she had attended Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, which prided itself on grace and etiquette. She now worked for the Ministry of Magic, studying muggles of all things, so it made sense it came about that she met Kassie's father Thomas Thornwood, a muggle.

After meeting Alexandria, Thomas, an equally handsome man with dirty blonde locks and amber eyes, became very interested in the wizarding world. He studied potions vigorously, determined to be of some use with magic, and was just, simply put, mystified by the subject. He worked as a small business owner at an antique shop, making enough money for all their family's needs in the muggle world in Dorset, England.

They were both thrilled when Kassie received her letter from Hogwarts. It was a bit of a relief actually, as her magic was very mischievous. They had often received phone calls from her school of strange accidents happening that always seemed to involve Kassie.

Once when a teacher had scorned Kassie for speaking out of turn, the ink in the teacher's pen suddenly exploded all over her new white blouse, causing Kassie and the rest of the class to erupt in a fit of giggling. Though she had no reason to blame her, the teacher had nonetheless given Kassie her third strike of the day and sent her to the principal's office.

Another time Kassie was on the playground and had asked to play with a group of girls, but when they said no and called Kassie a freak, the ribbon in one of the girl's hair mysteriously started flapping, like a bird trying to get away, all the while pulling the little girl's hair. Of course, Kassie nor her parents could explain such things to the school teachers or principal, but both Alexandria and Thomas knew what was happening. They warned Kassie to keep her temper under control but knew it wasn't any use because she didn't know how to control her magic yet. Or so it would seem.

Kassie, too, was excited about going to Hogwarts, but for many a different reason. While it was completely riveting to be joining a school of students with the same talents, Kassie was also quite the little trickster. She would never admit it to her parents, but over the course of the years where her magic had become hard to control, she had, in fact, learned how to use it to her advantage whenever she wanted to play a prank on someone she didn't like. She knew that with some training, her pranks would only get better and better.

As she and her parents neared the train for Kassie to board, she passed a large family, all of them with the same bright red hair. There was a short old woman placing kisses and waving goodbye to the children with a girl clinging to her side and complaining about wanting to get on the train. A tall, older boy said goodbye then headed toward the front of the train with his trolley, leaving a set of twins and a lanky, freckled boy to board.

As Kassie walked by them she couldn't help but overhear part of their conversation.

"…black-haired…near us…station…he is?"

"Who?"

"Harry Potter!"

Harry Potter? At the station? Kassie turned about looking through the crowd for a black-haired boy, not really sure what his face would look like, but hoping to catch a glimpse of the legendary scar she'd heard about since she was a child. After no prevail she rushed to her parents to tell them the news.

"Mum! I've just heard Harry Potter is boarding the train, too!"

"I suspected he would be. He's the same age as you, Kassie," her father said.

"All right, pumpkin, it's time to board the train." Her mother hugged her, holding back tears, just as the train let off a warning whistle. Kassie embraced her father before scurrying to a car door.

"Don't cause too much trouble, Kassie," Thomas called after her.

"Aw dad, it's only trouble if you get caught," she called back with a grin hopping onto the train.

Just as the rail wheels began to move again, Kassie sprinted to the nearest car and leaned out the window to wave at her parents. A sudden thrill swept through her chest as the train drew further and further from the platform. The moment had finally come. She was going to Hogwarts to learn witchcraft. The truth of it was almost too much for her tiny body to handle, she could hardly sit still. With a smile from ear to ear, Kassie continued to wave until she could no longer see her mother and father.

Of course, Kassie would miss them, but the excitement bubbling in her stomach was so great, she knew she wouldn't miss them too terribly.

Kassie turned back to take a seat in the compartment when she spotted the red-haired twins across the aisle and made her way to sit with them.

"You two met Harry Potter, didn't you?"

They looked up at her, both wearing the same suspicious smirk.

"We might have," one said.

"Then we might not have," said the other.

Kassie spoke determinedly with crossed arms. "I heard you two talking about him on the platform."

"And?" came their simultaneous response.

"I was just curious," she said making herself comfortable in the window seat across from them. "Anyone would be. Everyone's talked about The Boy Who Lived since I can remember."

They shared a questioning look then shrugged.

"Well, we met him, all right."

"Looked scared if you ask me. Didn't even know how to get through the platform."

"I'd bet he doesn't know squat about Hogwarts, or magic for that matter."

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" A stout old woman pushing a trolley of treats peeked into the compartment.

Kassie looked over the candies and pastries. "Just some Every Flavored Beans, please. Thank you."

"What's your name anyway?" one of the twins asked as Kassie munched on a — strawberry flavored? — bean.

"I'm Kassie Thornwood, and you?"

"Fred Weasley—"

"George Weasley—"

"Pleased to meet you," they said together.

Kassie deliberated for a moment over how to tell them apart. They seemed identical in every way—the same red hair, pointed faces, and a grin that said they'd been up to something mischievous. Even their clothing was identical.

"So, what house are you two in, then?" Kassie asked.

"Gryffindor. We're third years," Fred said.

"Gryffindor is the house to be in. Could use a better Quidditch team, though. We're the two beaters," said George.

"Oh, I love Quidditch!" Kassie wiggled excitedly. "My parents took me to the World Cup a few years back, it was fantastic! A Bludger came 'this' close to me, I could have reached out to touch it but my mum kept me back. But anyway, it was really a blast."

"We'd love to go sometime, but our family can't afford it." George slumped back in his seat glumly.

"Where do your parents work?" Kassie extended the offer of beans to them. Both of them gladly accepted a small handful of candy.

"Dad works at the Ministry of Magic in the Department of Muggle Studies," Fred explained.

"But he doesn't make nearly enough to send our whole family to the World Cup. There're seven of us kids, after all," George said popping an orange and pink speckled bean in his mouth. He made a sour face then swallowed it quickly.

"Seven? And I thought I had it bad being an only child. Wait, the Department of Muggle Studies you said? My mum works there, too! Perhaps they might have met at some point?" Kassie picked out a vomit green colored bean and decided against eating it. Instead, she threw it out the window.

"Maybe. Thornwood you said is your last name? What's your mum's name?"

"Alexandria."

The twins thought a moment.

"I dunno, dad doesn't really mention people from work, just the raids and all."

"Hey, I've just remembered, Lee Jordan brought a huge tarantula with him." George was wearing a wicked grin. "Wanna come with us down the train a bit?"

"No kidding? Yeah, I'll come!"

The twins tried to hide their surprise as Kassie nearly jumped out of her seat in excitement. The three-headed out into the aisle toward the front of the train, but not before Fred and George stopped at a compartment along the way.

"Hey, Ron."

"Listen, we're going down the middle of the train—Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."

"Right," came a mumble.

"Harry," said George. Kassie's ears pricked up at the mention of The Boy Who Lived. "Did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then."

"Bye."

Before following the twins, Kassie peeked in the compartment.

"Hi, I'm Kassie. You're both first years, right?" She glanced over the two boys, spending little time on the redhead to search for the scar on the other. And there it was, just over his right eye, in the shape of a lightning bolt. Kassie had so many questions, but if she was to catch up to the twins and see the spider, they would have to wait for another time. "I'm sure we'll be seeing each other then. Well, I'll be going. See you at Hogwarts." Harry smiled, Ron giving a half smile, and waved before Kassie shut the compartment door behind her and hurried to catch up to Fred and George.

"That's Ron's biggest fear," George said over his shoulder.

"Yeah, if you ever want to pull anything on Ron—"

"Just use spiders," they chorused together.

They walked along the train, which seemed much shorter on the inside, while the countryside whizzed past the windows. The compartments along the way were filled with chattering kids—some reading, some scrambling across the aisle—but everyone seemed to be keeping themselves busy.

"Well, here we are," Fred said.

"Hey Lee, heard you've got a tarantula with you," said George taking a seat in the compartment.

"Yeah, I do! Do you want to see it?" Lee asked holding out a box.

"'Do we want to see it' he says."

"Of course we do! By the way, Lee, this is Kassie. Kassie, Lee Jordan."

"Nice to meet you," Kassie smiled politely, eyeing the box.

"Nice to meet you as well. Here she is. Careful, she might…snap at you!" Lee jumped and shoved the box toward Kassie who, to his dismay, barely moved an inch.

"I'm not scared of spiders. Can I hold it?"

He looked only slightly disappointed as he unlatched the box and said, "Well, sure."

As Lee Jordan slowly opened the lid, eight beady eyes stared up at Kassie. It moved slowly, placing one stick-like leg after the other onto Kassie's skyward palms. The tiny hairs tickled her wrists until finally, the spider sat motionless in her hands.

"She's not so bad. My mum and I trained spiders once to play football."

"Football? What's that?"

Kassie looked up to see three confused expressions.

"You don't know what football is? Ah well, I guess it is a muggle sport. It's a bit like Quidditch, but on the ground, and there's only one ball that you're trying to get to the other team's goal on opposite ends of the field, but with your feet," she explained.

"You know, George, suddenly I understand why dad is so fascinated with Muggles. It's amazing how you can take something like Quidditch and make it boring — simply amazing, I tell you," Fred scoffed as his brother nodded in agreement.

"How did you manage to get spiders to do something like that, anyway?" asked George.

"We would feed them flies injected with Butterbeer. They went crazy for the stuff. Then my mum set a spell on them to make them larger and we put them in a huge chain link pen outside with a ball filled with Butterbeer." Kassie swung the spider, now disgruntled and wriggling, here and there to imitate a horde of spiders all chasing after a ball.

"I don't believe that rubbish. That couldn't have happened," Lee said skeptically.

Kassie placed the spider back in the box and looked at him with a pointed expression. "We're going to a school of magic, and you're trying to tell me training spiders is impossible? Well, in any case, I'll ask my mum if she's got pictures of it when I send her mail."

"Have you ever lost the spider, Lee?" Fred asked.

"Yeah, a few times actually. She always ends up in the strangest places. I once found her after a month in Diagon Alley."

"With a stolen wand and two gallons of Butterbeer," Fred added confidently.

George quickly chimed in. "How could you not miss your wand for a month?"

"I wasn't missing any wand! I had it the whole time!" Lee was nearly jumping out of his seat.

George crossed his arms doubtfully. "Then how did she get into Diagon Alley?"

"Have you ever seen a tarantula use a wand? I'm pretty sure even Kassie's football-spiders can't do that," Lee sputtered defensively.

"She caught a ride in, disguised as a hat," Fred said. Kassie raised an eyebrow in disbelief, prompting him to continue his story. "I saw a lady with a stuffed vulture on her hat once. I'm telling you, some poor woman out there is wondering where her tarantula hat went." Kassie tried and failed, to suppress a giggle.

George snapped suddenly. "Ron's next birthday present."

"With glue inside."

Kassie glanced around as the boys chattered on in the background. She noticed just above her head was a trunk with a tag that read "Lee Jordan". Hanging out of the side of it was a red and gold tie. Obviously, this meant that Lee Jordan was in Gryffindor as well. In all the research she had done, Kassie had always thought that Gryffindor was a house for the brave and courageous, which is what led to her thinking she would be in Ravenclaw, known for its inventors and quirks. But after meeting the twins and Lee Jordan, she wasn't so sure if bravery and courage were often mistaken with silliness and recklessness—traits that she thought she might fit into very well.

In the compartment next door, with its door wide open, Kassie noticed a blonde, big-eared boy leaning against the window sleeping with his mouth wide open. It seemed as though everyone in his compartment had gone to sit elsewhere.

Suddenly, a very wicked thought came to Kassie's imaginative, eleven-year-old mind.

"Fred, George. You said you're third years, right? Do either of you know a spell to make the tarantula float?"

"Yeah, why? You'll learn it this year, too."

Kassie pointed across the way.

"See that kid over there? I'm not sure he'll be able to sleep tonight if he continues with his nap. I think we owe it to him to wake him up."

"I like the way your mind works," Fred said in a low voice, grinning diabolically.

"What do you say, Lee? Shall we give it a go?" The four children were now huddled close to their own compartment door peering over at the boy in speculation.

"Yeah, all right. She won't bite him, after all," Lee whispered. "I don't think…"

"All right, Lee you open the box. Fred, you perform the spell and wait for me to tell you when, got it?" Kassie instructed them. There was a hint of skepticism behind their excitement as if they weren't sure they should be taking instructions from a first year, but they all nodded.

Lee grabbed the box once more and opened it slowly to make sure the spider wouldn't leap out. It sat contentedly in a corner. Fred retrieved his wand out of his pocket and pointed it at the tarantula.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" he whispered waving his wand, and the spider floated a foot up in the air.

It didn't like this at all. It immediately began to wiggle about, it's legs swiping at nothing while trying to get down. Kassie gave Fred a nod and he brought the spider across the aisle and just over the boy's face, then slowly, ever so slowly, he lowered it…

"Graaagh!" The boy was up in a heartbeat swinging his hands about. "Get it off! Get it off!"

The twins, Lee Jordan, and Kassie cracked up laughing in the compartment next door.

"Well he's not sleeping anymore, so I'd call it a success!" Kassie giggled.

The boy was still frantic, hitting his head on the luggage bar over his head and smacking his hand on the window. The spider was now free and crawling all over the compartment until it found the door and headed down the aisle toward the front of the train.

Fred and George exchanged a worried look.

"Uh oh."

Kassie, too, had noticed the spider and sprung out of the compartment to charge after it.

"Lee, grab the box! Catch that spider!"

At the mention of a loose spider, the whole front half of the train broke out into chaos. The heads of older children poked out into the aisle as Kassie, Lee, Fred, and George stormed by after the tarantula. Several people screamed and got in the way of the spider-pursuers trying to run in the opposite direction.

Finally, they caught up to it and Lee was able to snap the box on top of it. Kassie came to a halt panting and looked around to find a curly-haired red-head standing in the aisle, glaring at the four of them. She thought he must be related to the twins — she recognized him from the platform.

Sure enough, when Fred and George caught up to the commotion, George smiled guiltily and said, "Oh, hey Perce. So, must be nice being in the Prefect compartment?"

Lee had already stood up and was backing away when Fred grabbed Kassie's arm and whispered behind her, "Run."

She wasn't sure who 'Perce' was, but she wasn't about to stay and be scolded. Following the twins and Lee, she ran all the way back to their compartment where they all piled in laughing hysterically.

"Did you see the look on the kids face?" Lee's smile was from ear to ear.

Kassie glanced over across the aisle, where the compartment was empty.

"Hey, he's gone."

"Probably ran off screaming like a little girl," said Lee.

Both Fred and George lifted their hands in the air to imitate the boy's reaction, "Aah!" then leaned into their seats in a fit of chuckles.

"Who was the Prefect we ran into?" Kassie wondered.

"Oh, that was our older brother, Percy," George said.

"Yeah, but he's not really our brother. It's a sad story, actually." Fred's face dropped solemnly.

"His Dark Elf mother abandoned him when he was little. So ugly she didn't want him," George feigned wiping a tear from his eye. It was at this point that Kassie caught on.

"Yeah, it must have been the red hair," she said as seriously as possible.

At this, their poker faces were broken by giggling, laugh lines crinkling their eyes.

"He's the Gryffindor Prefect, then?"

The twins nodded.

"Well let's hope he won't remember me if I get sorted into Gryffindor." She shifted in her seat. "Do you think I will be? In Gryffindor with you three?"

George's expression turned to a playful scowl as he said, "I bet you'll be in Slytherin." He hunched over and waved his fingers at her as if casting a spell with his hands. She knocked them away with a grin.

"Stop, I will not."

"Nah, you'll be in Gryffindor. Least I hope so, you'll be loads of fun to have around." Lee's surety restored some confidence in Kassie.

She wanted to be in Gryffindor if this is what it would be like. She already made friends, and they weren't even to the school yet. It would be a bummer to be sorted in a different House, especially with the amount of fun she had with them.

Several hours passed and Kassie had finally changed into her new school robes. The sky outside the train had turned dark by the time they arrived at the platform to Hogwarts.

She clambered out of the train with the twins and Lee Jordan.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" A giant man with equal amounts of hair on his face as his head was shouting over the mass of children exiting the train. Behind the scruff and ragged clothes, he seemed rather friendly. He waved and smiled at the intimidated looking first years, his cheeks round and pink.

"See you in the Great Hall, Kassie!" one of the twins called.

"Good luck!"

Lee waved then followed Fred and George out of sight.

"C'mon, follow me — any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

And so they followed, hobbling down a muddy path and constantly bumping into one another. The wind howled through the trees above as the cold air hit Kassie's cheeks. The path seemed to get darker and darker until finally, just over a small hill, the trees opened up and they saw the castle.

It was built into the side of a cliff. It's high towers cast shadow rays below due to the shining moon behind them, with yellow specks that were windows. The light coming from them reflected off the lake below that separated the first years from the castle. Kassie swallowed hard, a sudden weight in her stomach. She would never admit it, but she was nervous. Nervous because maybe she wouldn't fit in here — maybe Fred, George, and Lee were just a rare bunch and the rest of the kids wouldn't like her, just like back home.

No, Kassie was determined to make this different than the other schools she'd gone to. She would make friends, and she would have a good time while she was here. She had to because, for the first time, she felt like this could be a place she belonged, surrounded by people no different from her.

Lined along the shore were small boats waiting for the first years to clamber tentatively into to take them to the school. Kassie climbed in with three other wide-eyed children, unable to take her eyes off the towers before her. Nobody spoke, adding a further chill to the air. Kassie wasn't sure what to expect when they got there, but she was excited nonetheless.

The boats started forward, gliding smoothly over the water. She peeked over the side, curious to see if she might be able to make anything out below the surface, but all she found was her reflection peering back at her.

Finally, they reached the other side and started on a wide cobblestone path that lead forward toward the castle. With each step, Kassie's anticipation grew. They walked up stone steps to a huge oak door taller than the bushy giant and stopped, waiting for a moment in piercing silence.

"Everyone here?" the giant called over the children. "You there, still got yer toad?"

Kassie glanced at all the heads crowding around, some people shuffling nervously. A collective excitement could be felt from one student to the next, everyone waiting with bated breath to go inside until finally, with a large fist, the giant knocked on the door with a _thud, thud, thud._

* * *

 **AN:** This is the beginning of what *hopefully* will mirror the seven book long journey that JK Rowling bestowed upon our unworthy, mundane minds. I was tentative about posting chapter one, as chapter two is not yet completed, but I'm hoping reviews of chapter one will help get me back in the swing of writing! I've got lots of great ideas for this one, and hope to get feedback so I can continue. :D


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